Olivia Wilde’s Lesson From Casting Director Mali Finn

It seems Olivia Wilde hasn’t always been a pro at dressing sexy. When the actress was just starting out in the industry, she was working as an assistant for casting director, Mali Finn.

Wilde saw Finn dismiss an actress after she came to an audition wearing skimpy clothes. “I remember an actress coming in wearing a too-short dress,” Wilde said at a Marie Claire “The Power of Presence” event, according to Starpulse. “After she left, Mali said, ‘Why was she wearing that dress? She’s a joke, I’m not meeting with her ever again.’ And this girl was never heard from again.”

“A few days later, I was going for an audition and I was wearing this huge cashmere turtleneck and pants, thinking I looked very ‘executive.’ As I was walking out of the office, Mali said, ‘Olivia, what are you wearing?’ I said I was going to a meeting, and she said, ‘Oh! You can’t wear that! You have to wear something tight and sexy.’”

Wilde was confused by this mixed message. “I had just learned this lesson of this actress who wore this short skirt and now her career is over. So she said, ‘You’re going to meet a male executive. You have to learn this game, you have to learn when to use sexuality and beauty and appearance in general, and when it’s inappropriate.’ [It was my] first kind of dunk into the world of Hollywood,” Wilde said. “It gives you this idea of the contradiction that exists, really in all fields.”